Archaeologists have excavated prehistoric
fishing camps on Mackinac Island and in the surrounding areas. Fishhooks,
pottery, and other artifacts establish a Native American presence at least 700
years before European exploration, around AD 900. The island is a sacred
place in the tradition of some of its earliest known inhabitants, the
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) tribes, who consider it to be home to the Gitche Manitou,
or the "Great Spirit". According to legend, Mackinac Island was
created by the Great Hare, Michabou and was the first land to appear after the
recession of the Great Flood. The
